Prostate cancer is a common malignancy among elderly men and is essentially incurable once it becomes metastatic. Results from clinical trials testing a panel of specific vaccines in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) suggest that alternative therapies may one day substitute or support the current gold standard (docetaxel plus prednisone). Here, we summarize the results of germane clinical trials completed during the last 12 y and provide updates on some currently ongoing studies. As it stands, prostate cancer vaccines appear to be safe and capable of generating prostate-specific T lymphocyte responses with potential antitumor activity.
Keywords: DNA Vaccines; GVAX-PCa; ProstVac VF; Sipuleucil-T; cell-based prostate cancer vaccines; clinical trials; gene-mediated cytotoxic immunotherapy; prostate cancer; viral-based prostate cancer vaccines.